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July 20, 2011

Rotten to the Corps

Displaced and distraught with their land destroyed, residents can now file claims against the Army Corps of Engineers for the ongoing flood that they failed to properly prevent.

For months, Holt County residents have leveled concerns and criticism toward the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over their flooded property. Now they can make their complaints official.

On Tuesday, County Clerk Kathy Kunkel released an e-mail detailing how landowners in the county can individually file claims against the Corps for damage.

“We would like to pool the claim forms together from everyone who believes they have damage related to the USACE’s actions this spring and summer along the Missouri River in Holt County,” the e-mail stated. Meant to potentially supplement money that will not be recouped in flood or damage claims filed to insurance agencies, Ms. Kunkel was surprised by the wording on the claim documents.

“The Corps have not admitted to this being a man-made disaster, but they have put up there on their (site) ... a place where their language is saying ‘If you believe that you have damages because of this act, you have the right to file a federal tort claim using this form,’” she said.

Army Corps officials likely won’t admit that the flood was “man-made”, but the disaster clearly stems from epic miscalculations on the part of the Army Corps.

The federal government has a team of professionals in the Army Corps whose sole responsibility is to make these kinds of calculations, and they screwed up estimating what the average American grade-schooler could’ve told them: double the normal snow pack means a lot more water headed downstream come springtime.

What they’ve had to offer in response has been even worse than an “Oops, we’re sorry,” they’ve gone with “We didn’t know it would happen.”

So they’re either responsible by negligence or responsible by stupidity. (Or, knowing the functionality of the federal bureaucracy, both.)

Either way they have damaged these Missourians lives forever, and even a massive lawsuit won’t change that.